DeSoto announces it will forfeit final two regular-season games following brawl between DeSoto and Duncanville players

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A day after an ugly postgame brawl between the boys basketball teams from DeSoto and Duncanville, DeSoto announced Wednesday that it will forfeit its final two regular-season games.

DeSoto ISD director of communications Tiffanie Blackmon-Jones said that in addition to forfeiting those games, the district will issue game suspensions for those involved in the incident. Blackmon-Jones wasn't sure how long those suspensions will last.

As an additional measure, at least one DeSoto student-athlete has been suspended indefinitely from the program. Blackmon-Jones said the forfeits and suspensions were something that DeSoto ISD superintendent David Harris wanted the school district to do on its own.

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In a statement announcing its forfeits and suspensions, DeSoto ISD said, "Regardless of which team may have initiated the altercation, DeSoto ISD makes clear that it does not condone the behavior that took place at last night's game. In all situations, DeSoto ISD maintains an expectation of high character for all district students."

Before the forfeits, DeSoto led District 7-6A with an 11-1 record, Duncanville was second at 10-2, South Grand Prairie was third at 9-3 and Cedar Hill was fourth at 5-5. DeSoto would still make the playoffs after forfeiting games against Irving Nimitz and South Grand Prairie to finish 11-3 in district.

In a matchup of teams ranked in the top 10 in the state, No. 6 DeSoto beat No. 7 Duncanville 67-46 at Duncanville's Sandra Meadows Arena -- a victory that at the time gave DeSoto sole possession of first place in District 7-6A. After the game ended, an all-out brawl broke out that lasted about a minute.

A video being circulated on Twitter showed the fight at Duncanville's Sandra Meadows Arena starting near the teams' benches and spilling onto the court and down to the baseline. It appeared punches were thrown, players had to repeatedly be pulled apart, and the video captured images of children being covered while in tears.

I hate we had to witness this ugly scene tonite there's no place for this in the game of 🏀. Players suffered injuries & its likely that suspensions will impact both teams moving forward smdh pic.twitter.com/igS8bqGu3W

DeSoto's Feron Hunt, an SMU signee, provided some details about the cause of the altercations late Wednesday night:

"The game was over, one of the Duncanville players bumped into my teammate, and it escalated from there," Hunt said. "There was a lot going on at that point in time."

Though Hunt said he has not been suspended, he indicated that he was involved in the incident, though his exact involvement is unknown:

"I was defending my teammates," said Hunt, who issued a statement on behalf of his team Wednesday night. "We were all defending ourselves. I don't know anyone who wouldn't."

Hunt's full statement: "On behalf of my team, I wanted to say that wasn't the way to go about it. We should have handled things much differently. There were a lot of emotions during that point in time, it was a very competitive game and we have a very competitive spirit as a team. We're young. We made a huge mistake, but that does not define us. Duncanville is a great team, we're a great team, it was a hard-fought game and I don't want either program to have the perception that we don't know how to act. We're well-respected young men, we respect everybody and I just wanted to apologize on my team's behalf. It shouldn't have even gotten to that point. That's not DeSoto, that's not who we are at all."

Officials from DeSoto and Duncanville met Wednesday to review film of Tuesday's incident, and Duncanville ISD director of external communications Lari Barager said the schools will make a joint recommendation to the UIL about disciplinary action. That will be separate from the forfeits and suspensions that DeSoto self-imposed.

Blackmon-Jones thinks the UIL will discuss that review next week. As of Wednesday night, Duncanville had not announced any self-imposed disciplinary actions. Duncanville has regular-season games remaining against Irving MacArthur and Grand Prairie.

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Barager said the school district can't discuss disciplinary action and that the information has to come from the UIL.

Hunt said Wednesday night that seniors from the two teams hope to meet up Thursday to amicably resolve their issue.

The athletic directors for both school districts said that all comments must come from their communications departments. DeSoto coach Chris Dyer said he couldn't comment about the incident at this time, and Duncanville coach Corey Chism didn't respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Staff writer C.J. Holmes contributed to this report.

Here is a statement released by Duncanville ISD:

"We do not condone the actions of the young men involved in the altercation after last night's basketball game.

Duncanville ISD school administrators are working closely with DeSoto ISD to review what happened. The review process will identify who was involved and determine appropriate discipline. Once final, the results will be reported to the UIL.

Working together with DeSoto ISD, we are also taking steps to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future."